Church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação, Mertola

The Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation is a Catholic place of worship originally built as a mezquita when Mertola belonged to the kingdom of Al-Andalus.

About this building

The church was built in the 12th century as a mosque. After the Christian reconquest of the city in the 13th century, the mosque was transformed into a Catholic church. The building underwent important changes between the 15th and 16th centuries, including the demolition of its minaret and the replacement of the timber roof with tiles.

Visitors information

  • Accessible toilets nearby
  • Café within 500m

Other nearby buildings

Wikimedia Commons/Antero Pires

Beja Cathedral

Beja Cathedral was built in 1590 on the site of an earlier church, also dedicated to St James the Great. The church, in Mannerist style, was built at the request of Archbishop Teotonio de Bragança and designed by the architect Jorge Rodriguez. The church was transformed into a cathedral by decree of the Congregation of the Sacred Consistory on 14th November 1925. On 4 June 1937, the church was transformed into a cathedral.

Wikimedia Commons

The Church of Saint Mary

Also known as the "Cathedral of Faro", this cathedral was built in its modern form in the 17th century. Archaeological evidence has proven this to be the site of a sacred place of Paleo-Christians which later became a Mosque after the Arab conquest, and later became a church in the 13th century after the Reconquista. The church was then destroyed by the Earl of Essex in the 16th century and rebuilt in its modern form.